How It All Goes Down
- Guy goes shopping at the No. 1 Store. It’s like the IKEA of North Korea, except there are fewer choices.
- “A single shoe style, in a choice of red or blue, can take up most of a department” (11.16). Even worse: those shoes… they’re all flats.
- Restaurant No. 3 finally opens at the hotel, so Guy and Richard dine there with Fabrice, who is coming in to replace Richard.
- Fabrice takes over for a couple of pages, drawing some panels of his own. They’re very French, and they’re about North Korea confiscating some of his film.
- The next day, Guy takes another happy little field trip, this time to the Museum of Imperialist Occupation. It “documents all atrocities committed by Americans against the Korean people during the war” (11.38). One notable image is of “[American] soldiers forcing [Korean] children to drink motor oil” (11.41). A trip to Graceland this is not.
- Guy’s last trip is to see the National Studio, where North Korea makes all its films.
- The North Korean films are just as sensationalistic as the North Korean museums.
- Guy gets drunk one last time and stares at the turtle before stumbling back to his hotel room.
- Guy decides to give a bottle of Hennessy cognac to his guide and translator, who are happy to receive it.
- During his last night in the hotel, Guy throws one more paper plane from the window, and hopes it will reach the river.